back to indexWed Bible Study - 04-27-16
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... devotions. Okay? Alright, I'll make less. 00:00:10.000 |
No, the homework, homework or, um, the devotions, I'll make more copy. 00:00:15.000 |
But the ones that you're filling out while we're going at it, like, a lot of you guys aren't using that. 00:00:19.000 |
You're putting it into your cell phone or whatever you're using. 00:00:33.000 |
We thank you, Lord God, for constant reminders and 00:00:37.000 |
little blessings, Lord, that cause us to know 00:00:41.000 |
that it is because you are watching over us, that you care for your people. 00:00:45.000 |
And as you express your love toward the nation of Israel, 00:00:49.000 |
despite their weakness, despite their shortcomings, 00:00:53.000 |
Lord, it's a constant reminder to us how faithful you are 00:00:57.000 |
to your own promise, to your own glory, and as a result, how we benefit from it. 00:01:01.000 |
We pray, Father God, that as we see and observe and study 00:01:05.000 |
how you've dealt with the nation of Israel, and how you will ultimately 00:01:09.000 |
deal with all your people, help us to find confidence in you, 00:01:13.000 |
that we would give you true worship, that you would be our refuge, 00:01:17.000 |
that you would be the one that we find our joy and our peace in. 00:01:21.000 |
And so we ask for your grace this evening as we study your word, 00:01:25.000 |
that all of these things would have its effect in our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:01:29.000 |
Okay, so as we're looking on chapter 42 and 43, 00:01:33.000 |
I'm sure you've noticed that God is going back and forth. 00:01:41.000 |
the promised Messiah, obviously Christ, coming to save the nation of Israel. 00:01:45.000 |
But then in between his promises, you'll notice that 00:01:49.000 |
he's constantly reminding them that despite all the things that he's done, 00:01:53.000 |
that they have a tendency to continue to strive or continue to drift away from God. 00:02:01.000 |
in chapter 42 and 43 is God's faithfulness and his redeeming grace. 00:02:05.000 |
But again, it's always kind of in the context of 00:02:09.000 |
reminding them what this grace is for, why they needed grace, 00:02:13.000 |
and why God needed to redeem them. And again, 00:02:17.000 |
I think it's important for us, whenever we talk about grace, whenever we forget 00:02:25.000 |
or health or safety or comfort, but God's greatest 00:02:29.000 |
gift is redemption from our sins, our joy in our life 00:02:33.000 |
just goes up and down based upon whatever our circumstances may be. 00:02:37.000 |
Our joy is solidly grounded upon the fact that he saved us 00:02:41.000 |
from our own sins. And so I think that's why over and over again 00:02:45.000 |
his primary theme is Christ our Redeemer, but what did 00:02:49.000 |
he redeem us from? Their false worship. They redeemed us from 00:02:57.000 |
You know, coming to him or being blind. Over and over again. 00:03:01.000 |
So he kind of reminds us of that. So we'll go through this section 00:03:05.000 |
again just as God is prophesying about his Messiah 00:03:13.000 |
I used a different format and on my computer it looked huge. 00:03:21.000 |
No? Okay. Alright. It looked big on my computer. 00:03:25.000 |
Alright. So, who is my servant? I think it's pretty 00:03:29.000 |
obvious. The servant that he's referring to is Jesus, the Messiah. 00:03:33.000 |
This whole section in chapter 42 is about the coming of the Messiah. 00:03:37.000 |
If you remember we talked about that in chapter 1 through 39 00:03:41.000 |
that there was a lot of prophecies about Christ, but again the 00:03:45.000 |
primary theme is that Israel will understand why judgment 00:03:49.000 |
was coming upon them. Chapter 39 to chapter 40 00:03:53.000 |
there is a huge gap, maybe about 150 years. And during those 150 00:03:57.000 |
years the Assyrians fall, the Babylonians come in, the 00:04:01.000 |
Babylonians fall, and then the Persians have come in. And King Cyrus 00:04:05.000 |
gave them the permission to go back into Jerusalem and 00:04:09.000 |
to reestablish Israel. So all of that has happened between chapter 39 00:04:13.000 |
and chapter 40. And so chapter 40 to chapter 66 00:04:21.000 |
Now, it doesn't mean that--he doesn't talk about judgment. He still talks about judgment. 00:04:25.000 |
He will every once in a while revert back and remind the nation of Israel 00:04:29.000 |
why the Babylonians came and why the judgment came. But again 00:04:33.000 |
you'll see a greater prophecy in chapter 40 through 66 00:04:37.000 |
about Jesus. So again, right off the bat we see 00:04:41.000 |
in chapter 42 that His prophecy about His servant, Jesus 00:04:49.000 |
chapter 42 verse 1 it says, "My chosen in whom my soul delights, I have put 00:04:53.000 |
my Spirit upon him." And the Spirit is--most of your Bibles 00:05:05.000 |
meaning that the interpreters believe that it is talking about the Holy Spirit. Why 00:05:09.000 |
does Jesus need to have the Holy Spirit be placed upon Him 00:05:25.000 |
and He is Christ, the second person of the Trinity, everything 00:05:29.000 |
was created by Him and for Him, why does God say 00:05:45.000 |
At the baptism. He gets baptized, the Holy Spirit comes and descends upon Him. 00:05:53.000 |
Dr. Proud, remember when he came here and he was talking about the life of Christ and he was 00:05:57.000 |
preaching about the Gospel? How sometimes we kind of separate the life of 00:06:01.000 |
Jesus because He's God? We can't possibly do that. But Jesus said, remember 00:06:05.000 |
when I leave you will do even greater things? How can His 00:06:09.000 |
disciples do even greater things? He says because the Holy Spirit is coming. And 00:06:13.000 |
instead of just being upon them, the Holy Spirit is going to be indwelling them. 00:06:17.000 |
Right? And so everything that Jesus did, He did as a 00:06:21.000 |
man who had the Spirit of God upon Him. Right? 00:06:25.000 |
So everything He did was an example for all mankind. Not just like, oh look at 00:06:29.000 |
Jesus. That's why He suffers. That's why He cries. That's why He's tired. 00:06:33.000 |
That's why He grieves. Because He put on humanity completely. 00:06:37.000 |
He didn't just taste it. He didn't just kind of put on a mask. 00:06:41.000 |
When He came and became a man, He became 100% man. 00:06:45.000 |
So even in His weakness, He took on man's weakness. 00:06:49.000 |
So that's why He says the Holy Spirit, He's going to send My 00:06:53.000 |
servant because He came at, even though He was the second person of the 00:06:57.000 |
Trinity, He came and put on the servant's body. 00:07:01.000 |
Even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life 00:07:05.000 |
as a ransom for many. Right? And so it was a, 00:07:09.000 |
He didn't just taste it. He completely became man. 00:07:13.000 |
Right? Though Jesus was fully God, He came fully, 00:07:17.000 |
became a full man, experienced all that man is able to experience. 00:07:25.000 |
He will bring not just grace but also justice through His sacrifice. 00:07:29.000 |
You notice how in the first section when He talks about Jesus coming, 00:07:33.000 |
He mentions three or four separate times in verse one, He will bring forth 00:07:37.000 |
justice to the nations. Verse three, He will faithfully 00:07:41.000 |
bring forth justice. Verse four, He will not grow faint or 00:07:45.000 |
discouraged till He has established justice on earth. Okay? 00:07:49.000 |
So if this is in reference to Jesus coming, we 00:07:53.000 |
typically think of Jesus coming to bring salvation, redemption, grace, mercy, 00:07:57.000 |
but here it's described as justice. Right? Why do you think it's 00:08:09.000 |
about the work of Christ as bringing justice? 00:08:13.000 |
Because when we think of justice, we think of punishment. Right? 00:08:41.000 |
punishment and justice come from Him. >>Right. 00:08:49.000 |
think about it in that light until it's like we deliberately 00:08:53.000 |
meditate on that. That the cross is justice and 00:08:57.000 |
mercy all at the same time. And if you take one away, the other doesn't make any sense. 00:09:01.000 |
But we tend to talk about it so much one-sidedly 00:09:05.000 |
about the grace, about love, about forgiveness, that we forget that 00:09:09.000 |
the whole purpose of the cross was to justify His wrath. 00:09:13.000 |
Right? To propitiate His wrath. So, the reason 00:09:21.000 |
for what was broken. Right? The wrath that mankind rightfully 00:09:25.000 |
deserved, Jesus absorbed it upon Himself. So, He came. So, 00:09:29.000 |
the fullest display of His justice was at the cross. 00:09:37.000 |
had placed upon mankind and nation was for their sins. 00:09:41.000 |
So, whatever, like even the flood that came and wiped 00:09:45.000 |
out the earth, that was an expression of His wrath toward those people. 00:09:49.000 |
They weren't paying for our sins. Only on the cross do you see 00:09:57.000 |
our sins, past, present, and future. And so, the wrath of God 00:10:01.000 |
that is revealed on the cross is much greater than any wrath that we've seen 00:10:05.000 |
up to that point. Right? So, when He says He's come to 00:10:09.000 |
bring justice, I think that's why it's tied in. If you remember, if you're 00:10:13.000 |
studying through chapter 42 and 43, and again, like in between 00:10:17.000 |
His expression of His love and redemption, He reminds them, 00:10:21.000 |
right, "Despite I did all of this, you didn't come to me. 00:10:25.000 |
You gave me false worship. You kept on turning to idols, because that's what you are 00:10:29.000 |
deserving of this justice. But God had mercy on you. Right? Because I love 00:10:33.000 |
you." And so, it's mixed in back and forth, back and forth. Right? 00:10:37.000 |
So, I think it's important for us that when we think about the cross, that we think we always 00:10:41.000 |
remember both sides. That He absorbed that wrath. And that 00:10:45.000 |
is just as important as us understanding that that's also 00:10:49.000 |
expression of His grace. But it's both. Right? Because what happens when we 00:10:53.000 |
forget that that's an expression of His wrath? 00:11:01.000 |
it could easily become cheap grace. Right? It could easily become 00:11:05.000 |
kind of like a grandfather passing out candy. Like, "Oh, you know, 00:11:09.000 |
we love you. Here's some candy to eat." Not realizing exactly what it is that He did. 00:11:13.000 |
Remember, again, Dr. Harris, when he talked about when the earth went dark 00:11:21.000 |
to place His wrath upon His Son. That scene that 00:11:25.000 |
we needed, we should have been in that darkness. 00:11:29.000 |
But it was an intimate scene between the Father and the Son. Because no one else 00:11:33.000 |
could be in that when the covenant was being ratified, because the wrath was being absorbed by 00:11:37.000 |
the Son. Right? So, without that aspect of it, grace isn't 00:11:41.000 |
amazing. It's just like, "Ah, somebody remembered my birthday, 00:11:45.000 |
and somebody loves me." And it just becomes cheap. Right? 00:11:49.000 |
And I think when we recognize what it is that we have in Christ, that's 00:11:53.000 |
a reasonable response. Like it says in Romans 12, 1. Right? Reasonable 00:11:57.000 |
response in view of the mercy that we have in Christ. Right? 00:12:05.000 |
"When He carries this justice out," again, these are all linked together, 00:12:09.000 |
"He will not cry out loud or lift up His voice," as also 00:12:13.000 |
prophesied in Isaiah 53. So, what does that tell you? When He 00:12:17.000 |
carries out His justice, He's not crying out. 00:12:41.000 |
[inaudible] "Why have you forsaken Me?" But when He says He didn't 00:12:45.000 |
cry out, meaning that it was done voluntarily. He didn't try to fight and run 00:12:49.000 |
away from it. He came and voluntarily laid down His life. Right? 00:12:53.000 |
It's like Isaiah 53.7, "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, and yet 00:12:57.000 |
He opened not His mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like 00:13:01.000 |
a sheep that is before its shearers is silent. So He opened not 00:13:05.000 |
His mouth." Right? And that's exactly what was prophesied. He's going to bring about 00:13:09.000 |
justice voluntarily, and He will do it willingly. 00:13:17.000 |
So, what does a bruised reed represent, and why 00:13:21.000 |
does God promise not to break it? Who's the bruised reed 00:13:45.000 |
It's just basically grass that's dried up and broken. 00:13:53.000 |
You're good for nothing. And who would think twice about tearing that out 00:14:01.000 |
Here's that little piece of wick, and there's oil in here, and the thing that burns out. 00:14:05.000 |
This thing burns out. What is this good for? You can't tie shoelaces. You can't 00:14:09.000 |
use it as a--what is this thing good for? Right? So He uses two 00:14:17.000 |
Absolutely worth nothing. There's nothing you can salvage from this, but trash. 00:14:21.000 |
Throw it in to be burned and getting rid of. And He says--so He 00:14:25.000 |
uses this imagery. A bruised reed and a burning wick. 00:14:29.000 |
He will not--what did He say? He will not forsake. 00:14:33.000 |
He's talking about His people. This is the state of mankind in their sin. 00:14:41.000 |
Absolutely useless. Good for nothing. It's like salt without its flavor. 00:14:45.000 |
Good for nothing other than to be trampled on the ground. And He says 00:14:49.000 |
Jesus is going to come. He's going to bring about justice. And He's going to do 00:14:57.000 |
and the worthless, which is all of us in our sins. 00:16:03.880 |
So who will be a light for the nations and open eyes to the blind? 00:16:09.440 |
So I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will take you by the hand and keep you, 00:16:15.200 |
I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes 00:16:19.960 |
that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon. 00:16:24.520 |
It says the Lord is described as a creator in verse 5, but in 6 and 7, He's the caretaker. 00:16:32.880 |
So this, this servant, so imagine like, now we know who Jesus is, like we're on this side 00:16:43.120 |
of the covenant, we know who He is, we know how He talked, we know what He ate, we know 00:16:47.520 |
His humanity, but imagine for a Jew, right, who doesn't have a clear picture of who Jesus 00:16:53.840 |
is, and the only picture that they have of the Savior that's going to come is coming 00:17:02.040 |
So imagine in their head, they're thinking, He's going to send somebody, He's going to 00:17:05.960 |
bring about justice, and this justice is going to free mankind from their sins, He's going 00:17:12.680 |
And He's going to be gentle and caring, because a bruised reed and burning wick He's not going 00:17:18.160 |
And He's going to come and He's going to care for them, you know, genuinely. 00:17:24.360 |
So think about everything that is promised that's going to happen when this Messiah comes. 00:17:30.380 |
So imagine the frenzy, so connect all of this, imagine the frenzy that the Jews must have 00:17:36.700 |
had when Jesus was riding in on a donkey, right? 00:17:40.420 |
So all of this stuff, that they, like could He be it, could He be it, and then finally 00:17:44.380 |
they think He is it, and then think about the disappointment when He was crucified on 00:17:50.420 |
Not knowing that everything that He was saying was going to happen on the cross, that He 00:17:56.620 |
But they were thinking, all this is going to happen, He's going to, imagine, so if you 00:18:00.580 |
didn't understand the cross, how would you have interpreted all of this? 00:18:11.220 |
I mean, if you didn't understand the cross, and you're thinking the Messiah is going to 00:18:15.860 |
come and fulfill all of this, you probably would have thought that. 00:18:19.260 |
If you're a fisherman, you're going to catch fish, you know, a boatload of fish every single 00:18:26.020 |
If you're a soldier, you're going to become the general, I mean, everybody probably projected 00:18:34.700 |
And even the disciples didn't understand it, because they thought, oh, when the Kingdom 00:18:37.820 |
comes, when the Kingdom comes, since we're the closest to the Messiah, like, how are 00:18:42.260 |
we going to benefit, to the left or to the right? 00:18:44.440 |
And so when He went to the cross, even though Jesus clearly said, I'm going to the cross, 00:18:52.540 |
It wasn't until after He was resurrected, it's like, oh my gosh, even in death, right? 00:19:00.540 |
So again, I think this is so important, because even us on this side of the cross, we still 00:19:08.960 |
You know, the cross is something we hang on a church, and we think about, we meditate, 00:19:13.620 |
we repeat verses to each other, but when do you really think about the cross as the hope, 00:19:23.700 |
When we feel like we're bruised, what was it? 00:19:32.140 |
Or burning wick, you know, sometimes you feel like that in life. 00:19:37.220 |
Like when do we really turn to God and think the cross is the answer to that? 00:19:43.620 |
Or do we turn to our friends or family or something, right? 00:19:51.460 |
We make the same mistake when we forget that all of this was to be fulfilled in Christ, 00:19:59.180 |
That's why the Old Testament believers didn't clearly understand, but we have the benefit 00:20:03.520 |
of looking back and saying, we know that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of this. 00:20:07.860 |
So it's a constant reminder to us that our hope and all the answers, all the promises 00:20:13.900 |
are fulfilled because of what Christ has done on the cross, right? 00:20:17.060 |
And the moment we forget that is when we get frustrated. 00:20:22.340 |
The servant will be the one giving the world a new covenant for the people, light to the 00:20:30.140 |
And then it says, God is jealous for His glory and will not share it with any idol or anything 00:20:38.260 |
So remember, Jesus came and He says, when He's about to go to the cross, what does He 00:20:43.100 |
It's time to glorify your son and for the son to glorify the father, right? 00:20:47.580 |
And He said, I will share my glory with nobody else. 00:20:51.500 |
So if the cross is where God is glorified the most, He said, I will not share, right, 00:20:56.780 |
what He fulfilled on the cross with anything else. 00:20:58.860 |
If we turn to anything else but the cross, right, we taint His glory. 00:21:05.060 |
And He clearly says, He is jealously guarding His glory, right? 00:21:10.340 |
So in other words, we can interpret that as He's jealously guarding the cross. 00:21:18.740 |
Okay, this is one of the application questions I have. 00:21:38.860 |
So we move to verse 7, or 10 to 17, where the people break out into song. 00:21:43.940 |
But what is the cause of this joy in singing in verse 10 through 12? 00:21:49.860 |
Up to this point, it says the Lord restrained Himself, right, in responding to injustices. 00:21:55.940 |
He's been observing and watching, but now finally, He's going to act. 00:22:03.500 |
The Lord, in verse 13, the Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war. 00:22:08.720 |
He cries out, He shouts aloud, He shows Himself mighty against His foes. 00:22:12.720 |
So people will know that God is acting, right? 00:22:17.900 |
The devil, you know, when he works, he's always scheming. 00:22:21.760 |
It's almost kind of like, you don't know he's there. 00:22:24.700 |
When he's working, people are not paying attention. 00:22:29.560 |
But when God works, He says He does nothing without proclaiming to His servants first, 00:22:36.080 |
He said when He works, people know that God is coming, right? 00:22:43.960 |
You know, He's not behind the scene, but He makes it very clear. 00:22:47.160 |
So look at all the miracles that He performs. 00:22:49.200 |
When He performs miracles, the end result is in, did God do that? 00:22:55.640 |
So even people who don't want to believe Him can't deny His miracles, right? 00:23:07.600 |
He's going to declare it, because His whole purpose is to declare His glory. 00:23:12.320 |
So He's not going to hide and give that glory to somebody else. 00:23:15.200 |
When it happens, people will know that was Him, right? 00:23:20.280 |
And I, again, let me go off track a little bit. 00:23:22.680 |
That's why the church, when we rely upon our method, our scheming, and our intelligence, 00:23:31.720 |
We take away from His glory, because at the end, if we become successful, we're going 00:23:37.680 |
In the name of Jesus, but we're going to say we did it, right? 00:23:40.400 |
There's a reason why God chose the dumb, right? 00:23:50.240 |
Because when God moves, no one can touch the glory, right? 00:23:54.680 |
And so I think in the end, the call of the church is to become as dumb as possible. 00:24:01.480 |
I mean, in some sense, you know what I'm saying, right? 00:24:06.720 |
I'm not saying like, you know, not to know how to do anything, but dumb as possible in 00:24:12.960 |
the sense that, yeah, like what's your strategy? 00:24:15.840 |
We're going to pray, we're going to read the Bible, and we're going to obey. 00:24:20.960 |
And then let God do what He said He's going to do, right? 00:24:27.520 |
To even the smartest of people, it's the lowest common denominator, we're going to pray, we're 00:24:33.680 |
going to humble ourselves, and we're going to obey. 00:24:36.320 |
And then let God do the work, so that when something happens, that He gets the credit. 00:24:47.880 |
Again, the term blindness is always, oftentimes in the Bible, in reference to spiritual blindness, 00:24:54.680 |
the people who have not recognized Him in the past, who were not able to see Him, God's 00:24:59.960 |
going to show up, and they're going to see Him, right? 00:25:03.160 |
And when He brings restoration to His people, there's always the other side, judgment and 00:25:12.200 |
The second coming, there's a two-edged sword. 00:25:14.640 |
There's one who comes to redeem His church, His bride, and the other one comes to judge. 00:25:22.280 |
Again, an application question, I'll leave that to you guys. 00:25:36.640 |
Verse 18 of chapter 42, it says, "Hear you deaf, and look you blind, that you may see." 00:25:44.800 |
I mean, it'd be a cruel joke to go to somebody who's deaf and say, "Hey, listen to me!" 00:26:00.280 |
What does that tell us about their blindness and their deafness? 00:26:20.780 |
The fact that God is telling them to see and to hear, what does that tell us about their 00:26:38.200 |
Just like Romans chapter 1, they rather be in darkness than in the light, so they chose 00:26:46.040 |
So it wasn't like, "Hey, God made me this way." 00:26:49.160 |
It said, "No, you love darkness better than light, and that's why you choose to not listen." 00:26:58.280 |
You ever try to counsel somebody who is committed to do something that is clearly wrong, and 00:27:03.720 |
you try so hard to reason with them, but there is no reasoning? 00:27:12.480 |
You talk to somebody, and it's just, and they would have agreed with me before, and they 00:27:18.880 |
But when they're in that context where they're just like, they want this so bad, there's 00:27:26.360 |
And it's frustrating because anybody can see it. 00:27:30.720 |
And they're putting all kinds of logic, all kinds of reasoning. 00:27:35.680 |
And a brand new believer would know, would be able to discern, you know? 00:27:41.160 |
And it's like, you come back and say, "There's no way that you're blind. 00:27:46.760 |
You're looking for reasons to justify what you want to do. 00:27:54.680 |
What does it mean to see many things but do not observe, and to have his ears open 00:28:04.840 |
It's related to what we just talked about, right? 00:28:10.160 |
The rebuke is against the Israel who convey the message of the Lord without following 00:28:15.920 |
What does this tell us about the calling of Israel? 00:28:20.440 |
Israel was called to be a light to the other nations, but because they themselves were 00:28:31.360 |
But they weren't functioning as God's people. 00:28:36.560 |
Just like the church can have the title of the church, the body of Christ. 00:28:44.720 |
So God gave them ears, God gave them eyes, but they couldn't see. 00:28:53.400 |
And then they become like plunder for the leaders to take advantage of. 00:29:00.440 |
Because they strayed away from their shepherd, they're open to any wolf coming in and taking 00:29:07.400 |
So that's why when the false prophets came, they clung to them. 00:29:15.760 |
So during the time of Isaiah, false prophets were rampant. 00:29:21.840 |
They're contradicting what Isaiah's saying, contradicting what Hosea's saying, contradicting 00:29:25.700 |
what Amos is saying, because all of them had the message that they didn't want. 00:29:31.080 |
So false teaching, false prophecy was rampant, and there was confusion as to what the truth 00:29:35.160 |
was because they strayed away from their shepherd, so they were vulnerable to any kind of wolf 00:29:42.680 |
That's why I think whenever you take the Word of God away from the church, like anything, 00:29:49.520 |
If you don't stand for anything, you'll fall for anything. 00:29:52.120 |
If you don't stand for something, you're, yeah. 00:29:54.320 |
But that something isn't just anything, obviously. 00:29:59.160 |
If we're not grounded upon Christ and we're drifting, right, you can drift to anything. 00:30:05.320 |
Any new thought, any new theology, any new type of whatever trend comes in, the next 00:30:12.320 |
So the church that is drifting will look different today, ten years later it'll look different 00:30:19.800 |
ten years later, ten years after that it'll look something different, because it's always 00:30:24.220 |
shifting from whatever happens to be coming in. 00:30:30.360 |
But a church that is grounded upon the Word of God shouldn't look different from generation 00:30:36.440 |
It shouldn't look different from the early church to the Middle Ages to now. 00:30:43.920 |
He said, "The Lord burned with anger against the leaders, but they did not understand." 00:30:49.040 |
In other words, verse 25, he says, "So He poured on him the heat of His anger and the 00:30:56.140 |
It set him on fire all around, but he did not understand. 00:30:58.720 |
It burned him up, but he did not take it to heart." 00:31:05.960 |
All of the judgment that he brought upon the nation of Israel, the leaders of Israel, 00:31:10.080 |
the captivity to Babylon, Assyrians coming and attacking them, all of that was for what 00:31:19.380 |
To discipline them, to bring them to repentance. 00:31:24.280 |
So they clung to God when they were in need, but as soon as they were in safety, they went 00:31:37.800 |
So Israel may have been asking questions of why. 00:31:49.640 |
But the answer that he gives in verse 24 is not why, but who. 00:31:55.480 |
"Who gave up Jacob to the looters and Israel to the plunderers? 00:32:00.120 |
Was it not the Lord against whom he has sinned? 00:32:03.560 |
In whose ways they would not walk and whose law they would not obey?" 00:32:13.720 |
Once you realize who did it, then you know why he did it. 00:32:27.000 |
God didn't temporarily lose control, and that's why the Assyrians came into power. 00:32:31.640 |
Like God didn't all of a sudden was fighting the Babylonians, and then they overpowered 00:32:35.600 |
Him, so the Babylonians took control for a period. 00:32:39.840 |
It wasn't because He was weak and He couldn't keep them at bay. 00:32:43.160 |
It wasn't because He lost battle with the Romans that they were in power. 00:32:47.160 |
So what he's saying is all the things that have happened to the nation is because He 00:32:58.840 |
If you really think about it, and you believe in a sovereign God, look at Lot. 00:33:03.440 |
Devil's the one who initiated, and God said, "Have you considered My servant?" 00:33:08.880 |
At the end of Lot's life, he doesn't say, "Why did the devil do this?" 00:33:21.480 |
There's got to be one person in here that could leave this video and say, "Yeah, Lot 00:33:32.120 |
So in other words, he's saying that the sovereign God was in control. 00:33:34.680 |
In other words, He was in control of all of it. 00:33:38.240 |
He was in control when redemption was coming. 00:33:40.080 |
He was in control when the Babylonians were there. 00:34:04.440 |
Despite the many sins of Israel, what does God promise Israel in verse 1 and 2, and why 00:34:22.040 |
How many times has He forgiven you, forgiven me? 00:34:28.360 |
If salvation was by works, just practically speaking, we wouldn't be here. 00:34:37.280 |
I don't know how long it would have taken, but we wouldn't be here. 00:34:42.480 |
Only reason why you're still here, are able to listen, able to study the Word of God, 00:34:46.920 |
is because, like we said on Sunday, because God promised it. 00:34:53.360 |
So despite Israel's sin, He's still, He's still patient with them. 00:35:00.160 |
He's not only going to redeem them, forgive them of their sins, He says He's going to 00:35:09.040 |
And ultimately, in verse 4, "Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and 00:35:16.800 |
I give men in return for you, people in exchange for your life. 00:35:23.400 |
I remember as a young Christian, I was reading this for the first time, and this is the first 00:35:27.720 |
time I remember where God Himself just directly says, "I love you." 00:35:41.040 |
I mean, I think people are changed, like when you feel loved. 00:35:50.880 |
But to be loved by God, to be an object of the love of God, and if you really believe 00:35:56.800 |
that, that God who created the universe loves you, you know, what does that mean? 00:36:04.720 |
Psalm 23, "For I walk through the valley of the shadow of evil." 00:36:09.240 |
"Valley of the shadow of death, I shall feel no evil." 00:36:18.840 |
I don't think we're being too touchy-feely when we talk about this, because I think it's 00:36:24.480 |
extremely important that we realize that God doesn't just care about you, He doesn't just 00:36:28.840 |
count your hair, He doesn't just like, you know, feel obligated because of His covenant. 00:36:52.200 |
And I think if you're not convinced of this, if you're not convinced that you're precious 00:36:57.940 |
in God's eyes and that He loves you, you know, this is the reason why we run from Him. 00:37:05.000 |
You know, when we make mistakes, or, you know, not realizing how much we mean to Him. 00:37:11.600 |
If it was up to me, I'd just linger here for a while. 00:37:28.480 |
How does that affect the way we think of our jobs, or leisure, or money? 00:37:40.600 |
It's interesting how in verse 8, He says, "Bring out the people who are blind, yet have 00:37:49.280 |
People who are physically, they're blind, but they can see. 00:37:56.560 |
It's saying they have eyes, but they do not see. 00:38:00.880 |
But when God brings redemption, it's exactly the opposite. 00:38:09.320 |
Probably my favorite, favorite song ever is a Korean song written by a paraplegic in Korean. 00:38:21.800 |
And basically, just a summary of the song is how God is so fair. 00:38:28.520 |
And how she writes, I'm not going to say it in Korean. 00:38:33.400 |
It says, "God is so fair because God has given me what other people don't have." 00:38:39.200 |
Because of her disabilities, that she's able to see Christ and see, hear more deeply, and 00:38:50.800 |
One of these days, I'll translate it for you. 00:39:00.360 |
When he appears, and even the people who cannot see, will see. 00:39:10.560 |
Now, he calls the nation of Israel to be his light. 00:39:16.400 |
He says, "They must first come and see and witness before they can declare his glory." 00:39:22.800 |
"All the nations gather together in a people's assemble who among them can declare this and 00:39:29.660 |
Let them bring their witness to prove them right and let them hear and say, 'It is true. 00:39:35.040 |
You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may 00:39:38.960 |
know and believe me and understand that I am he. 00:39:41.320 |
Before me no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me." 00:39:45.120 |
In other words, you know, it says, "Be still and know that I am Lord." 00:39:50.040 |
So, it's like, before he sends his disciples out, what does he tell them to do? 00:39:55.800 |
So, in the three years, yes, he did train them. 00:40:00.200 |
He showed them how to pray for people and to heal the sick and all that. 00:40:05.600 |
But above everything that he's done, the greatest thing that he did in those three years was 00:40:13.480 |
More than anything else, he revealed himself. 00:40:14.860 |
Because the greatest thing that they were going to do is to be their witness. 00:40:24.320 |
He said, "I'm going to show you how to make fishers of men." 00:40:27.040 |
But the greatest thing that they received in the years that they were with Jesus was 00:40:38.360 |
So if you're going to declare his glory, you have to see his glory. 00:40:44.040 |
So whether you go into ministry, whether you make disciples, whether you serve the church, 00:40:49.920 |
the greatest preparation for God's ministry is to behold his glory. 00:40:57.720 |
Because the primary work that he calls us to do is to declare his glory. 00:41:01.720 |
So how can somebody who doesn't behold his glory declare his glory? 00:41:06.560 |
So the greatest thing that God calls every Christian to do is to come and behold his 00:41:12.760 |
So if we're not affected by his glory, by his mercy, how can we be a witness? 00:41:22.140 |
We can take the things that we've studied and just present it to them. 00:41:25.120 |
So if you are a good communicator, if you like to read, you know. 00:41:31.320 |
God called us to be a witness, to be a light. 00:41:36.800 |
So that's why first and foremost he tells us to come. 00:41:44.520 |
It's not, I mean, Martha would be the one praised in the church because she's the one 00:41:57.000 |
You know, would Jesus be okay if all Mary did was sat there and she never helped with 00:42:09.360 |
The best was sitting at Jesus' feet, soaking up everything that Jesus was saying. 00:42:15.520 |
Because the one who beholds his glory is going to be the greatest witness for Jesus. 00:42:28.200 |
Again, he's the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 00:42:36.680 |
Because he's the one who created Israel, verse 15, he's the King of Israel. 00:42:42.440 |
And this King isn't just the King of Israel, he's sovereign over all creation. 00:42:55.120 |
He's saying all of this personally because he's redeeming them. 00:43:13.040 |
Like, cast all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. 00:43:21.040 |
Isn't that the first thing that happens when we feel like, you know, things are going out 00:43:29.840 |
We become anxious when things don't go according to plan. 00:43:36.160 |
So, think about that in a larger scale as a nation. 00:43:46.800 |
And so, we can understand, humanly speaking, why they would align themselves with the Egyptians. 00:43:52.760 |
And with the Syrians, and the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. 00:43:55.160 |
We can understand that because we struggle with the same thing. 00:43:59.440 |
When trials come and things get out of hand, like, what do we run to? 00:44:02.800 |
So, the whole reason why he's saying all of this is because he's the, he's, like, I'm 00:44:19.640 |
Like, despite all of that, they didn't come to him. 00:44:29.880 |
Again, remember, he was saying, he was going back and forth, back and forth. 00:44:42.760 |
Your sins are starting to pile up, becoming a huge burden, because you refuse to come 00:45:01.720 |
How many times does Israel have to go through this cycle before God says, "Enough!" 00:45:18.200 |
Because he promises them, "I will blot out your sins." 00:45:31.920 |
This burden that was piling up, despite his grace and mercy. 00:45:39.280 |
He who knew no sin became sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. 00:46:04.840 |
It's just that sometimes, all that we know, sometimes we become so hardened that it just 00:46:12.000 |
But when this has flesh, when this is truth, it changes us. 00:46:19.840 |
We're not just talking about some doctrinal statement. 00:46:27.520 |
We burdened Him with our sin, and what did He do with that burden? 00:46:35.240 |
So again, true worship is always a response to this. 00:46:42.880 |
So again, we're not done, but Isaiah is going to just pound it upon us, so that hopefully, 00:46:50.120 |
if your hearts have become hardened for whatever the reason, in the last few months, or last 00:46:54.520 |
few years, I pray, my hope and prayer is that as we go through these sections of promises 00:47:02.160 |
of the Messiah, the details of the Gospel, you know, hopefully by the time we get to 00:47:12.880 |
That the ultimate reason why we're doing what we're doing is so that when we say, "We love 00:47:17.440 |
You, Jesus," that we mean it from our hearts. 00:47:24.000 |
So let me pray for us, and then I'll let you guys get into your groups, and take some 00:47:34.240 |
Alright, let me pray for us, and then I'll let you guys get to your groups. 00:47:43.720 |
Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for being so patient with us. 00:47:48.800 |
You know how prone we are to wander and to be entangled. 00:47:52.440 |
We look at the rest of the world, and sometimes we envy what they have, because we forget 00:47:59.140 |
the hope that we have in Jesus, and what it is that we already have. 00:48:03.600 |
The privilege that we have to call You our Abba Father, because You loved us, and You 00:48:14.000 |
You were patient with us, and You forgave us, no matter how many times we've drifted. 00:48:20.120 |
No matter how many times we've disappointed, because of Your unending grace, we're able 00:48:28.960 |
I pray, Father God, that You would cause all of us, each one of us, to respond in such 00:48:34.920 |
a way that our confession of love to You may be genuine. 00:48:39.320 |
That our worship would never be a burden, but it would be an expression of that gratitude, 00:48:46.720 |
I pray that our fellowship, our small groups, would lead to greater challenge, greater sharpening, 00:48:54.520 |
That wherever we are, whatever it is that we have experienced this week, that our burdens 00:48:59.000 |
would be unburdened, Lord God, and to place it upon Christ. 00:49:02.920 |
And that as You have called Israel to Yourself, that we would go to You, Father God, with 00:49:08.280 |
confidence in the blood, in the name of Jesus.